Fmr Indian FonSec @VGokhale59 writes on India, SE Asia & SCS:
"The real choice is not between China and America — it is between keeping the global commons open for all or surrendering the right to choose one’s partners for the foreseeable future" 1/
indianexpress.com/article/opinio…
Gokhale: "benign American mil presence has afforded countries the opportunity to pursue econ prosperity w/o substantial increases in their own defence expenditures or having to look over their shoulders. No grp of nations has benefitted more from [US] presence...than...ASEAN." 2/
Fmr Indian FonSec Gokhale: "Chinese military postures, on the other hand, give cause for concern...Their [SCS] territorial claim itself is tenuous, neither treaty-based nor legally sound. They act in ways that are neither benign nor helpful for long-term peace and stability." 3/
Gokhale: "Accommodation [of China] may have worked thus far but [SE Asian] regional prosperity has come at a mounting cost in geostrategic terms. The South China Sea is effectively militarised. In the post-COVID age, enjoying the best of both worlds may no longer be an option" 4/
Gokhale: "The proposition that nations that hv plied these waters in the centuries past for trade & other peaceful purposes are somehow outsiders who should not be permitted to engage in legitimate activity in the #SCS, or hv a voice w/o China’s say, should be firmly resisted" 5/
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